During a long point

There were several multi-stroke points when I played last night. I was moving side to side. I noticed that while the first couple of groundies was good, the next tended to go down in quality. I felt hurried and hassled, and caught myself jumping into the shot one time.

How do you maintain the same stroke consistency over a multi-stroke point, along with all the running? Do you do a mental and physical reset after each stroke? How do you get over the feeling of losing track of where you are and where your racket head is?

Confusion sets in for me after a few balls in a row in a real match when I am moving instead of just hitting rally balls. I don't see clearly and I don't know where I am. I try to remember to come to the neutral position after every stroke, but sometimes that also goes.

This is what makes you closer to the professional level. A 5.0 also can hit a ball as good as a pro but when it comes to consistency, they make more mistakes than a pro. I think it is a matter of practicing, if you make long rallies everyday for years, than you learn how to stay loose and relaxed in any condition.

you're thinking too much of other stuff and not looking at the ball: will i make the next point, will this be a winner, can i keep this up? etc...

Focus:

positioning yourself, still looking at the ball, bouncing/running/sidestepping to get in position, still looking at the ball, swinging through the contact zone, still looking at the ball, and so on...

Court positioning / Movement:

I recall you questioning if there is strategy in tennis. This is where it comes in. You're hitting on the run poorly because you are doing one of two things wrong: A) You're not constructing your points well enough (directionals, shot selection, etc...) and/or B) You're not getting into the right position to cut off tough angles and benefit from your previous shot (i.e. approaching after good shots, getting back to the court after being pulled out wide, aide and split stepping appropriately, etc...); Fitness matters in this respect as well.

Vision is probably a lost cause. My progressive multifocals blur the vision during motion, especially when tracking the ball in the vertical direction, which is the direction in which the refractive index changes. Add to that the effect of the glasses slipping during movement causing differential movement wrt the eye.

But at least breathing and balance can be addressed.

And also putting away shots when there is an opportunity instead of allowing the opponent to recover.

Are they sport specific progressive lenses? These have an enlarged distance zone and a wider intermediate zone I believe.

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I have never heard of them. I tried prescription sports glasses once. They curved all the way to the sides. I could not play with them. It was a total waste of money. One shop told me they could not be made for my prescription, while another shop said they would do it, and I believed them.

Sureshs, you may wish to check with your optomitrist or eye glasses store. I am near sighted and only wear my progressives for day to day things. For tennis, I do not wear the progressive lens and have a separate pair of glasses purely for tennis. You can also get some very lightweight frames that stay on your head without any sort of strap. I have a pair of TAG Heuer frames with rubber covered titanium stems--they never move while I play. You might also check into Silouettes (I used to use those). I have been playing in glasses for 20+ years and have always had separate glasses for tennis (oh, and have avoided curved lenses--simply cannot play with that distortion). Good luck.

Better fitness is your answer. If you have no problem with balance and court orientation after 5 balls, there's no reason why the others should be different unless your body is getting too tired, then other things start to come into play. Cardio training could help a lot (some long distance running, interval workouts like 400m repeats etc can go a long way).

Better fitness is your answer. If you have no problem with balance and court orientation after 5 balls, there's no reason why the others should be different unless your body is getting too tired, then other things start to come into play. Cardio training could help a lot (some long distance running, interval workouts like 400m repeats etc can go a long way).

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I was going to say this. Yes, it appears it's a physical conditioning issue. When you get tired your technique suffers and when your technique suffers your mind suffers and when your mind suffers your result suffers. It happens to all of us even to the top players.

There were several multi-stroke points when I played last night. I was moving side to side. I noticed that while the first couple of groundies was good, the next tended to go down in quality. I felt hurried and hassled, and caught myself jumping into the shot one time.

How do you maintain the same stroke consistency over a multi-stroke point, along with all the running? Do you do a mental and physical reset after each stroke? How do you get over the feeling of losing track of where you are and where your racket head is?

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Make sure your splits steps are timed right and you are moving on bent legs and maintaining balance.

This may not be what you should be thinking during the point, but remember that in long rallies your opponent will also begin to feel the same way you do.

Many people (including myself) feel like they must do something with their next shot. This impatience often causes people to over hit or make a mechanical error. In long multi-stroke points, you have to learn to be content with just hitting rally balls and reacting to each shot. Don't worry too much about the pace of your shots, but pay attention to the depth. If you have to take a bit off your shots and make it a bit loopier, that is perfectly okay. The only time you should change your mentality is when the opponent hits a crappy shot that is easy to take advantage of.

If you find your shots are waning a bit in power, try not to think about mechanics. Think about how you want more depth and how you have to appropriately move to be in a good position for the next shot. The only mechanics you should ever actively think about with rally shots are court positioning and maybe rotation. If you begin questioning the way you swing consciously, it will lead to errors.

The one about focusing on depth is pretty realistic. Looking back, the depth seems to get shorter as the point grows longer, probably because the swing becomes more tentative???

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That is what happens with me sometimes, so I would say yes. When I start doubting my swing my shots get a bit weaker or i'll miss hit.

It is really hard to be good at tennis mentally unless you have trained for a really long time. Something that helps me with being a little less tentative is deciding where I want to hit my next shot as early as possible. When my opponent's shot leaves his racquet I approximate where I am gonna return it from and decide what place on the court I am gonna try to place it. Don't change your mind unless you have to, because hesitation also can lead to miss hits.

Another huge huge huge tip that many rec players don't follow is to hit cross court more often. Cross court is a much safer shot under most circumstances and gives you more room for error than hitting up the middle or down the line. A lot of the time you will notice pros send back most shots they have difficulty with cross court so they can have a higher chance of it landing in.

The one about focusing on depth is pretty realistic. Looking back, the depth seems to get shorter as the point grows longer, probably because the swing becomes more tentative???

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A strange thing happened yesterday. I was playing against one of my Assistant Coaches. This boy is only 17 years of age. I am 63. I beat him first set 6/2, and in the second I am down 3-4 but I have a break point to level it 4-all. I hit a sizzling short cross-court winner but he somehow got to it and returned the ball back cross court, I hit a great down the line deep and I thought the point was mine but he got to it and returned it cross court (at this stage I decided not to wrong-foot him but rather make him run to enjoy the point), I took couple of steps back, got adjusted and hit a sizzling down the BH winner and moved forward but he somehow got to it and hit a great defensive lob which landed on my baseline, I sprinted back and reversed the ball back but he was at the net and tapped the ball for a drop shot winner. Instead of 4-all the score is now 3-5 down. At this point we got our coaching class so a comeback by me was pointless (I was out of breath also), and he won the second set 6/3.

A strange thing happened yesterday. I was playing against one of my Assistant Coaches. This boy is only 17 years of age. I am 63. I beat him first set 6/2, and in the second I am down 3-4 but I have a break point to level it 4-all. I hit a sizzling short cross-court winner but he somehow got to it and returned the ball back cross court, I hit a great down the line deep and I thought the point was mine but he got to it and returned it cross court (at this stage I decided not to wrong-foot him but rather make him run to enjoy the point), I took couple of steps back, got adjusted and hit a sizzling down the BH winner and moved forward but he somehow got to it and hit a great defensive lob which landed on my baseline, I sprinted back and reversed the ball back but he was at the net and tapped the ball for a drop shot winner. Instead of 4-all the score is now 3-5 down. At this point we got our coaching class so a comeback by me was pointless (I was out of breath also), and he won the second set 6/3.

A strange thing happened yesterday. I was playing against one of my Assistant Coaches. This boy is only 17 years of age. I am 63. I beat him first set 6/2, and in the second I am down 3-4 but I have a break point to level it 4-all. I hit a sizzling short cross-court winner but he somehow got to it and returned the ball back cross court, I hit a great down the line deep and I thought the point was mine but he got to it and returned it cross court (at this stage I decided not to wrong-foot him but rather make him run to enjoy the point), I took couple of steps back, got adjusted and hit a sizzling down the BH winner and moved forward but he somehow got to it and hit a great defensive lob which landed on my baseline, I sprinted back and reversed the ball back but he was at the net and tapped the ball for a drop shot winner. Instead of 4-all the score is now 3-5 down. At this point we got our coaching class so a comeback by me was pointless (I was out of breath also), and he won the second set 6/3.

Yes, tennis is a strange game and that's why we play it.

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What would you say would be the level of the ass coach in US NTRP terms?

Sounds like you are out of shape and can't grind a point. You need to run and lose weight, but I have a feeling you won't committ to that.

One thing that will help instantly (besides having better footwork) is breathing right. I always inhale on opponent's contact and exhale on mine. It is just easy to remember and it keeps me focused.

You have to get your footwork right though for this to ever really pay off. It takes a few weeks of being tired and then suddenly you get it and you will find that you actually save tons of energy out there now that you are hitting with balanced form.

That is the best way to build up "shot tolerance" and not become anxious to end the point after just a few exchanges.

(This is NOT the way you will want to play forever - in the future you are going to want to exploit short balls by hitting approach shots and coming in.
You are going to want to hit your first serve for aces.
You are going to want to "go for" flat put-aways in to the open court.)

But to build shot tolerance you may want to play a few "pusher" on purpose, and try to outlast him with back court rallies using safe shots.

While this may not have any immediate appeal for you, it may be just the thing you need both to get over your low shot tolerance, and to build up your stamina (may be better for you running on the court than in a gym.)

Recently, I am trying to incorporate proper breathing in every aspect of my life. I will try this again.

Do you exhale only through the nose or also through the mouth?

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Mouth too I think. Most great players that I have seen hit or have hit with are somewhat loud on the exhale. It is a rhythm and focus thing as well as a way to remember to breathe.

If you start by taking in air when you are split stepping, you will see the rest comes naturally.

I learned this by sitting right on the court last year at the Sony tourny. I could hear breathing on off times..like I would hear the player grunt quitly when the other player was hitting the ball. Thought it was echo, but the players were breathing in on opponent's contact and out on theirs.

Someone to check out is Ferrer. It is pretty easy to hear him do this.